MWSA Book Review

Marines and Renegades

Author: Gene Rackovitch

Publisher:  Publish America

Reviewer: Prof Andrew Lubin--MWSA Lead Reviewer

War novel and murder mystery all in one!

   Most books about the Marines in WW2 focus on the fighting and the island-hopping campaigns; author and former Marine Gene Rackovitch takes the unusual focus of the Marines and Japanese on Guam – after the Japanese surrender.
   The Marines kill two surrendering Japanese who they think are dangerous, and the surviving (but not surrendering) Japanese officer then seeks revenge. As much a murder mystery as a war novel, Rackovitch is a good novelist who describes the starving Japanese on the island is detail, along with the casual, comfortable, and victorious Marines. There are both heroes and villains on both sides of this story, along with an unfortunately typical Marine ending.
   Rackovitch was stationed on Guam after the war, and he draws on his experiences to describe the island, the weather, and the jungle. Additionally, he uses his tour in the Marines as a rich source of information in depicting the various types of Marines with whom he likely served.
   Both Marines and non-Marines will enjoy this unusual story of the Japanese and Marines on Guam after the war ended in 1945.